Monday, July 28, 2008

Clemyjontri Park

The ClemyjontriPark is part of the Fairfax county park system. The 18 acre park in McLean was donated by Mrs. Adele Lebowitz. She had the dream of a park for all kids to come and play no matter what their abilities are. This colorful park is designed for children of all capabilities to enjoy. Many of the structures are wheelchair accessible with ramps and rails. Most of the things are low for a child to reach or for an adult to easily assist. The kids love it.

This weekend was very hot with heat advisories for outside activities so we went in the morning after a quick swim in the kiddy pool. We started our day in the park with a ride on the absolutely beautiful carousel. The carousel has stationary and moving horses along with a few seats designed to accommodate a wheelchair or other special needs. After 1 ride with a promise of one more before we left they took off to race around the rest of the park. My little people ran from cars to airplanes to train, to mazes, to swings, to slides, and back again. After nearly an hour we all climbed back onto the carrousel for one last ride. It was hard to get them off the ride the second time. I promised them we would be back.

Because of the heat we stayed in the parking lot for a short time to tailgate. I made sure each of us had a bottle of water and some juice before we all buckled up to find a good pho shop for lunch. Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup. It is a wonderful broth with lots of rice noodles, meat, and crunchy sprouts to put on top. Pho is traditionally eaten with chop sticks and a spoon. The kids love it.